PREFACE. 



IN an age like the present, when 

 the growth of every production con- 

 ducive to the interests of morality, and 

 a more extensive knowledge of the 

 Creator through the medium of his 



O ' y 



tvorks, is recommended and publicly 

 encouraged, hut little need be offered 

 by way of apology for the present 

 Compilation. One important object 

 of the following pages was to present ^ 

 in a very compact and comprehensive 

 form, an interesting and connected 

 account of those laws and operaiions 

 in the material world > which > under 

 the elaborate pens of philosophical 

 authors, cover an extent of scientific 

 ground too enlarged for the commer- 

 cial and labouring individual to tra- 

 vel over ; but more particularly has 

 this little compendium been arranged 

 for the juvenile inquirer, who either 

 A 



